What's the worst dubbing company in the world? Is it a company tied to radical editing of anime to make it suitable for the perceived sensibilities of kids? Or is it a company that makes legitimate issues incredibly condescending, platforms for virtue signaling, some of the most toxic actors on the planet, terrible corporate culture, basic by default dubbing quality and owns CrunchyRoll? Or Odex?
I think we're all well past the 4Kids hate bandwagon. Though I consider their take on the national anthem cringe, it's funny to see people get pissed off by some of the most unintentional trolling I've ever seen.
And yes, 4Kids was involved in this.
Background
WMAC Masters was one of the first shows ever produced by 4Kids Entertainment, long before they took part in anime dubbing, when they found a profitable market in that regard. Previously just a licensor, though to be fair they kept up with that since, this was the first time the company took part in producing a show themselves.
The show aired in syndication, with distribution handled by their own label. Remember watching Pokemon as a kid and you see the only other logo beside 4Kids? That was their own distribution label, The Summit Media Group. Summit handled distribution for shows like Van-Pires, Mega Man, others, and Darkstalkers. Hey, they distributed it, they certainly didn't have a hand in making it. They also distributed Mr. Men and Little Miss, not the Mr. Men Show, which people likely only enjoy because it was by the same studio that made Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi.
Interestingly, aside from them, the show was also produced by Renaissance-Atlantic Entertainment. They're one of four credited production companies on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the other being the copyright holders, the producer of the stock footage and the one bankrolling this. Unlike MMPR where Saban's credit is shown the most prominently, Renaissance-Atlantic actually has an on-screen logo here.
I take it they were the ones that helped produce the wrap-around footage for MMPR and provided choreographing. Maybe they were so proud of this they wanted to be seen by logo. At least 4Kids wasn't against someone picking their nose, and juice is better than foamy water, and holding someone's eyes open isn't horrific, and someone's knees, tears, thoughts of apple trees-
It's almost poetic that I talk about a company that did business with 4Kids and Saban.
The Show
WMAC stands for World Martial Arts Council, it has nothing to do with an AM radio station in Georgia. Credit where it's due, that's a clever acronym. The show makes use of actual martial artists and fighters, as in not teenagers that may date the show considerably. That is commendable, but probably not as big of a push as one would think. The quality of an actor's work is nothing too big to think about if the combat is good enough to justify it.
Let's get the elephant out of the room, this is a scripted fighting show, so don't expect assuredly genuine combat. It's sorta like wrestling in principle, but fuck it, it's still cool to watch, that's one way to get your blood pumping on... whatever day this is shown. The show is broken down to fighting matches, some in-betweens with our characters and for the sake of justifying its placement on a kids juncture, has educational bits relating to real life issues... for the first season anyhow.
One thing that makes this stand out from other fighting shows like it is that it plays like a live-action video game, running stats for present fighters and having health gages. I'll admit, I never saw something like that before in a legitimate series, and it could help to flesh characters out by stat and whatever else applies.
The set work is better than Turbocharged Thunderbirds, and if you don't know what I mean by that... they had a character pass off a View Master as a futuristic gizmo. Aside from some pieces looking plasticky, The Machine being the prime offender here... am I really gonna go apeshit over a show made with syndie dollars?
The show's battles are hosted by Shannon Lee, sister of Brandon Lee and daughter of Bruce Lee, and amazingly she is still alive. Okay that's low, I know.
At least the fight scenes don't include cartoony sound effects. Devil's advocate, but perhaps some kids aren't prepped for graphic violence and some are too obsessed with maintaining integrity in the initial anime? With Saban and 4Kids in mind, it's very easy to see how much one cared about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to another. Saban gave us Next Mutation, 4Kids gave us TMNT 2k3. Your move.
The health bar thing has some decent detail, though I would assume sometimes they would miss the right commands. From what I saw they timed the hits right with the drops of the bar.
The in-betweens lack those corny lines you'd find in most 90s shows, but that could be owed to the lack of teenagers and trying to be hip and cool. 4Kids may've dropped the ball when it came to being child friendly, but at least it didn't resort to dating its material, okay One Piece bites, but then again they didn't seek out One Piece themselves, it happened to be part of a package deal and they essentially panicked.
The lesson in the first episode revolves around the meaning behind the nicknames of the main focused fighters, and how one of them is more private about the meaning of their own. The Machine, the one of focus, got it when he broke his leg during a match and took it as a sign of refining his skills and not let your pride get the better of you. Practical advice, especially when it comes to fighting content.
This applies to the first season, so there isn't much more to say, but I can't help but get lost in the episode I'm watching, this is pretty damn good. Also, props to flying the Taiwanese flag instead of China's flag, for the people, not the politics, gotta make that clear because I'm setting myself up for cancellation.
The way the message is carried out here is also handled naturally, as it came from inquiring about a nickname and the payoff for it. Now you may be thinking it's obvious the Machine would get her, but oh, how does he get hurt and where? Disregard the leg portion, this takes place in a kickboxing event, gloves off. Also, not every idea has to be super original and never done before as long as it's handled well, and here, it do. It fuckin' do. I mean it gotta do to justify being on the air.
Final Thoughts
Now, there may be an underlying sense of cheesiness I didn't pick up on because let's face it, I was exposed to a lot of it in other shows, but this was a treat. Sure the fighting's scripted, but it's saved by some cool fight choreography and whatever ideas that were not used in other programs at the time. It's free from that cursed lingo and 90s fashion sense, those low budget CG effects, and few to no heavy-handed messages.
I brought up 4Kids a lot because, let's face it, in spite of some inexcusable fuck ups, where they shined, they shined brightly. They had some awesome original productions, Pokemon remains as one of their best dubs with Yu Gi Oh as a close second (and screw you, GX was hilarious), and this was an ample start for the company.
4Kids more or less surrendered ultra violence and death, rather than good action, their staff was treated well (well good enough to not lead to actors speaking out). You can't convince me Funimation is better, all they did was make characters speak English, and give scumbags a platform and ruin the prospect of bringing justice (do you really wanna rub elbows with absolute douchebags?)
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